From biological fathers showing out of the blue to runaway mothers making a sudden return, our boys have a lot of hurdles to face this week. But with the help of our sweet leading lady, they can take a breather and shift their focus to less problematic things.
On a lighter note, our heroine is excited about starting dating, though her first relationship doesn’t last long.
Bunny S. watches Family By Choice on Viu
Episode Recaps: 01 & 02
Family By Choice Episodes 3 and 4 Highlights
“He is worse than I expected. I would rather he asked for my organs.”
We pick up where we left off with Hae-joon feeling shocked by his biological father’s sudden appearance, yet Mr. Biological Father (Lee Jong-hyuk) takes off as abruptly as he shows up, having received a call from someone mysterious. Over dinner, San-ha senses something is wrong with Hae-joon and nudges him to spill it. Which Hae-joon does and then admits to being conflicted. On one hand, he feels happy to meet his father, but on the other hand, Hae-joon feels bad for Dad Yoon, who raised him as his own for ten years.
When asked why he never showed up before, Mr. Biological Father claimed he only found out recently about Hae-joon’s existence, yet that is one big lie. But poor Hae-joon has no idea and feels rather assured that at least his father didn’t abandon him like his mother did. Though by mistake, Hae-joon’s words remind San-ha of his own wound, having been abandoned by his mother. My heart goes out to those two sweet guys and I wish that they would break free from their childhood trauma and realize that Dad Yoon and Ju-won really consider them family.
Rightfully suspicious of Mr. Biological Father, San-ha suggests Hae-joon meet his aunt and ask her about Mr. Biological Father. As expected, Aunt reveals that Mr. Biological Father abandoned Hae-joon and his mother in favor of marrying into a wealthy family. She even goes as far as to threaten not to see Hae-joon again if he continues to see Mr. Biological Father. And I can’t say I disagree with her since Mr. Biological Father turned out to be a total jerk.
Being his usual reticent self, Hae-joon puts on a smile and acts like all is fine, promising to do as Aunt says. But San-ha can tell Hae-joon is hurt. When Hae-joon attempts to rip the business card Mr. Biological Father gave him, San-ha stops him and suggests they meet him as they need to know his motive. No, it isn’t Hae-joon’s organs Mr. Biological Father is after. He simply needs an heir to pass on his money to.
Mr. Biological Father could have gone with adoption instead of showing up before Hae-joon and turning the poor guy’s life upside down and everyone would have been happy, but I guess we have to go through this angst. Anyway, Mr. Biological Father mentions taking Hae-joon to America to sway him. Yet, this trick doesn’t work on Hae-joon. My favorite part, though, was San-ha standing up to Mr. Biological Father, especially the part about paying for their drinks, making the latter realize Hae-joon isn’t on his own.
Over a mini beach trip, Hae-joon asks San-ha to keep Mr. Biological Father’s sudden appearance under wraps. But I guess it is a bit too late, since Mr. Biological Father drops by Dad Yoon’s restaurant, introducing himself as Hae-joon’s father. Worse, he shamelessly hands over an envelope of money to Dad Yoon as “compensation,” and announces his intentions to take Hae-joon with him to America.
Hearing Mr. Biological Father is there, Hae-joon rushes over. But when he arrives, only Dad Yoon is there. Dad Yoon tells Hae-joon he won’t stop him from going if that is what he wants, though he wavers a bit, telling Hae-joon to stay at least until he graduates. Breaking into tears, Hae-joon finally lets it all out. He didn’t tell Dad Yoon about Mr. Biological Father because he was scared Dad Yoon would tell him to go.
Giving Hae-joon a hug, Dad Yoon assures Hae-joon he wants him to stay and not leave. Ju-won shares the same sentiment as Dad Yoon. Hae-joon should stay with them forever and never leave. Having confirmed that both Dad Yoon and Ju-won want him to stay, I hope Hae-joon puts the past behind them and allows himself to get the love he truly deserves.
“Who is it? How did you find out?”
Who cares about biological fathers and birth secrets when our trio has something more important to discuss? Ju-won has received her first love letter from a mysterious “X” and she is ecstatic to relay this news to her “brothers.” After some failed attempts, Ju-won finally learns the identity of her secret admirer. It is Lee Jun-ho (Yoon Sang-hyeon), a first-year student who has both the looks and the brains. Going out for a meal, things were going pretty smoothly until Jun-ho pointed out that Ju-won was cheerful despite growing up without a mother. Oops!
Satisfyingly enough, Ju-won stood up for herself and called Jun-ho out for his old-fashioned logic, dumping him in the process. Keeping the truth from her family, Ju-won claims she turned Jun-ho down because he doesn’t eat sweets. (You know, Ju-won is a cake lover, so how can she date someone who hates sweets?) Yet, San-ha can tell there is more to it.
“You haven’t contacted me once for the past 10 years.”
Meanwhile, San-ha faces some drama of his own. San-ha’s mother is back, and she is as shameless as she was in the past, if not more. Long story short. San-ha’s mother still blames San-ha for his younger sister’s death and argues she will try to forgive him for it. (That woman is on another level.) One can guess how well their talk goes, but after San-ha takes off, he is so absent-minded that he almost gets himself hit by a truck. Luckily, Ju-won, who was watching the situation from the sidelines, saves him at the last minute.
Having been raised by a doting mother at least during the time they lived together, Hae-joon can’t get why made a big deal of a mother visiting her son. Thus, getting into an argument with San-ha, who counters that Hae-joon doesn’t need to feel jealous since his relationship with his mother is toxic and that Hae-joon didn’t feel that happy to meet his father, either. Ju-won tries to diffuse the situation and get them to reconcile, but her attempt fails.
Albeit inadvertently, Ju-won ends up getting San-ha and Hae-joon to join hands together after San-ha realizes the reason why Ju-won turned Jun-ho down. Dragging Jun-ho to the gym storage, San-ha and Hae-joon scare the daylights out of him without resorting to violence in the slightest, making it clear he can’t even be friends with Ju-won after spewing such nonsense.
Awaiting San-ha is his brazen mother, who dropped by the restaurant with San-ha’s half-sister, assuming she might have his way if she forces this situation upon San-ha, having the half-sister call out to him. When that doesn’t work, Toxic Mother mentions taking San-ha to Seoul and helping San-ha get admitted to a college there. But San-ha doesn’t budge, calling Toxic Mother out on not respecting his opinion and doing as she pleases and asking her not to show up before him again.
Once again, Hae-joon tries to interfere, nudging San-ha to give Toxic Mother another chance. But San-ha flips out, arguing at least Hae-joon’s mother had the decency to lie about coming back to get him. Thus, getting Hae-joon livid. We end this week with Hae-joon punching San-ha in his angry state and San-ha countering they were both abandoned by their mothers.
Family By Choice Episodes 3 and 4 Musings
The more we get on our main trio, the more I cherish their bond. Be it San-ha tagging along when Hae-joon went to see his father, Ju-won asserting Hae-joon should never leave them, unlike how cold she was to him when they first met, Ju-won waiting outside the coffee shop where San-ha met his mother because she was worried about him, and then her crying when San-ha almost got into an accident, and finally the two boys joining hands together to teach Jun-ho a lesson despite being on bad terms.
But that also makes me worried about what is yet to come. If Toxic Mother were the type to listen to others, things wouldn’t have gotten to this. And who on earth uses a seven-year-old girl to get her way without even considering the little girl’s feelings, were San-ha to treat her harshly? That woman is beyond selfish, and I don’t think I will understand her point of view anytime soon.
The only one who might be on the same level as Toxic Mother is Mr. Biological Father, who doesn’t intend to give up either and now pretends to be nice, treating Hae-joon’s teammates to hamburgers. Yet, that only provokes Hae-joon and gets him into a fight with a mean teammate.
Four episodes in, and the drama remains a blast. Hopefully, it maintains this light-hearted tone throughout its run while giving our main trio some much-needed character development that helps them stand up for themselves and become less distressed by their childhood baggage.
Photos and Videos: JTBC Drama
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